Several NFL sources said there is a debate within the Eagles hierarchy about whether or not the team can truly trust Jackson with a long-term deal. The Eagles, one league source explained, are also open to a trade for Jackson. In other words, the Eagles wouldn't mind if some sucker, er, team, took Jackson off their hands for a nice piece of draft compensation.

In his post-combine mock draft, Peter Schrager of FoxSports.com has the Eagles taking Boston College linebacker Luke Kuechly at No. 15:

There were questions about his speed heading into the combine, but he put those questions to rest with a blazing 4.5 40-yard dash. He’s been compared to Sean Lee, without the durability and injury issues. Kuechly’s considered a first-day NFL starter. Slate him into that Philly defense and watch out.

Pro Football Weekly has a list out of the top 100 free agents. Keep in mind this was posted before the Eagles used the franchise tag, but they had DeSean Jackson at No. 9 overall. The only receivers ahead of him were Vincent Jackson and Mike Wallace, who is restricted. They've got Evan Mathis at No. 66 overall.

The offensive line is a unit and an adjustment made by the left tackle can affect the right tackle’s responsibility. Before making an assumption about who was supposed to block the linebacker that came free and leveled the quarterback, try to see what everybody else did during the play.

Of course, it's inside the locker room where some critics worry about the guy. But people close to the Eagles believe that Jackson is not a character risk; that he can be the complete player -- the team player -- he was before 2011. That's because they believe that what happened last year was the inevitable consequence of the Eagles passing out millions to unrestricted free agents from other clubs -- with players who had experience with the Eagles, like Jackson, wondering why they weren't getting a piece of the pie.

I mean, we all saw what happened when the Eagles brought in Terrell Owens -- and he was more of a playmaker than Burress. Plus, he stayed out of trouble with the law. But he was a disruptive influence in the locker room, and I guess what I'm suggesting is that Burress can be one, too. So why take the risk when there's such little reward?

Sheil Kapadia is in his fifth season writing about the Eagles and the NFL for philly.com. His earliest
memories as a sports fan include several trips to Veterans Stadium with
his Dad. He's not a beat writer or an Insider, but is here to
discuss the NFL 365 days a year. E-mail him at skapadia@philly.com or
by clicking here